The cognitive and psychological predictors of everyday memory were investigated in 37 children (mean age 13.7 years, range 7.3-17.9 years) with medically intractable epilepsy treated at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. Only a parent-report measure of attention (Child Behavior Checklist Attention) significantly predicted everyday memory ratings. Standard tests of attention, intelligence, visual and verbal memory, working memory, and mood/emotional state were not predictive of everyday memory. [1]

COMMENT. Everyday memory deficits in children with epilepsy are secondary to attentional problems. They differ from that of adults whose everyday memory correlates with standard psychological measures. Memory deficits in adults with epilepsy have also been correlated with anxiety and/or depression, age and duration of the seizure disorder.

Memory impairment with febrile seizures. Adult rats that had been subjected to repetitive brief, experimental febrile seizures (FS) at days 10 to 12 postpartum, showed long-term memory deficits as assessed by the Morris water maze test [2]. These results raise concerns about long-term cognitive consequences of even brief repetitive FS during infancy. Despite limitations, immature animal experimental FS can provide useful correlations with the clinical FS, its mechanism and functional sequelae. [3, 4]

Effects of seizure-related activity on cognitive function. Paroxysmal epileptic activity, the acute effects of minor seizures and epileptic EEG discharges, caused deficits in cognitive processes, alertness and mental speed, in children with short nonconvulsive seizures, and over time, affected educational achievement. [5]